Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that many people here and across the country were stunned last week when the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs announced his intention to abolish the triple lock. I am sure that many of the Tánaiste's own party members were also shocked at the revelation, given that the Fianna Fáil 2020 general election manifesto gave a commitment to fully maintaining our neutrality and the triple lock. There are some, and the Tánaiste is a case in point, who seek to dismiss the concerns we have raised about this decision and the reasons for our opposition to this move. When I speak about opposition to this move, I am speaking in light of the commitment to the triple lock as outlined in the National Declaration contained within the Irish guarantee in the Lisbon treaty; the Seville Declaration in the Treaty of Nice ahead of the Nice 2 referendum; and the programme for Government.

Yet the Tánaiste effectively believes our neutrality poses such a weakness that his views should override those obligations and commitments to the people of this country. The gradual shift away from our neutrality is something we in Sinn Féin have warned about. The announcement made in this House last week saw that shift ramp up a level, with the Tánaiste beginning his attempt to ram through a fundamental shift in Irish foreign policy and a further lurch in the direction of Fine Gael on the part of Fianna Fáil. The Minister appears to now consider our neutrality a weakness, given his current intentions to undermine it. If he wants to pursue his goal of undermining our neutrality, he should put it to the people in a referendum and let the people decide.

Neutrality is not a weakness; it is our strength. Any weakness is evident in our Government and its commitment to adequately fund our Defence Forces. This underfunding and under-resourcing needs to be addressed to allow Ireland to continue to participate in UN peacekeeping missions, to defend and monitor our skies and seas and to protect Ireland from the real threats we face, including cyberattacks.

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